Credit

Caption

Arm surgery. Historical artwork of arm surgery including hand and finger amputation. Surgical pliers (lower right), chisel (lower left) and saw (above chisel) are shown in use. An incision in an arm is seen at upper left. The blood vessels in an arm stump are cauterized with a hot instrument (upper right), before being bandaged (below). Surgery at this time was painful and risky as anaesthetic and antiseptic drugs were not invented until the 19th century. Surgeons tried to complete their work as quickly as physically possible. Amputations were often performed to treat infected wounds (gangrene). This artwork is from J. Scultetus' Armamentarium Chirurgicum of 1665.